At least 1 in 7 American families lack consistent access to food. Click here to see some faces and stories of hunger in our own country and in our own neighborhood. Meet Cameron from Lewiston, a member of Lots to Gardens, a program located at St. Mary’s Nutrition Center of Maine.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
11/17/11
Shelby Rossignol and her dad Paul Rossignol delivered 242 pounds of food and $1,758 to the St. Mary’s Food Pantry on behalf of Bath Iron Works where they are employed. Every year BIW employees do a food drive before Thanksgiving to benefit the Pantry. The donation was deeply appreciated. Joyce Gagnon, the Pantry manager, says this is the most challenging year the pantry has ever had trying to fill the shelves.
Friday, October 28, 6:30 pm
St. Mary’s Nutrition Center
208 Bates Street
Lewiston, Maine
As local gardens wind down, you’re invited to wind up and celebrate the bountiful growing season in full costume. Whether you come as a zombie, a tomato, some combination of the two, or something totally different, you’re invited to sit back, relax and take in the sounds of local musicians and the taste of a multi-course meal featuring locally grown ingredients. NOTE: there will be a costume contest so don’t forget to dress up! Audience members get to decide who the winner is – winner will take home yummy Lots to Gardens’ treats!
Tickets for Alive in Lewiston are $15 in advance, $20 at the door, $5 for kids, and $5 for Lots to Gardens’ youth and community gardeners. If these prices don’t work for you but you really want to come, call or e-mail Lots to Gardens. We hope you’ll join us for this fun, family-friendly event. NOTE: space is limited – To be guaranteed a space please register in advance by calling (207) 513-3844. Early registration ends Thursday, October 27th at 10:00 pm.
A group of young local performers and gardeners known as De’ Hillview Groupsing will start off the night sharing “some rock and some roll”. The group has performed at Hillview’s annual Holiday show and Art Show and is known for singing African Folk tunes as well. Members of the group have different levels of experience, but all are required to attend one singing lesson each week to participate in the group. The only qualification for being in the group is “a great beat”.
The Maine Squeeze According Ensemble, known for playing eclectic music from around the world, will also be sharing their tunes. Whether they’re squeezing out jazz, blues, klezmer, zydeco, or traditional French Canadian they’re sure to make your feet move.
Wrapping up the evening will be the Juke Joint Devils, “an old time, hard driving, hard swinging blues band that never fails to get the crowd jumping.” Hailing from Portland, the Devils’ music is rooted in the blues of Chicago, Memphis, New Orleans and West Coast Swing. The band features 2011 International Blues Challenge finalist Tom O’Connell on harp and vocals and Gerry Byrne on bass, with Stefan Iris on guitar and Pete Shorey on drums.
Attendees will also learn about the Youth Food Bill of Rights, a declaration written by 130 youth from around the country at the annual Rooted in Community(RIC) conference in Philadelphia this past July. Four youth from Lewiston participated in the development of the original Youth Food Bill of Rights. After attending RIC they brought the idea back to Lewiston and led their co-workers at Lots to Gardens in developing their own Youth Food Bill of Rights for Lewiston. The 21-item declaration includes demands for less processed food in school lunches, an end to chemical and pesticide use on food, and more land for youth and community gardeners to grow food.
See you there!
In 2010, participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) redeemed more than $7.4 million in benefits at farmers markets. This represents more than a 70% growth in one year. Along with such growth comes local innovation designed to ensure that farmers markets are making quality food available to all members of a community.
This summer, nationwide participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is at a record high of approximately 45 million Americans. Fortunately, the families relying on this and other programs to put food on the table have a friend in farmers markets, where an increasing number of low-income consumers are purchasing locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables.
The Lewiston Farmers Market is one of a growing number of markets across the nation who accept EBT/SNAP cards and WIC coupons. In an effort to make fresh, healthy food even more accessible for all members of the community, we are continuing to offer double value coupons to SNAP and WIC customers. This program was made possible through grants and sponsors, and matches money spent at the market by customers on their EBT/SNAP card or WIC coupons dollar for dollar up to $10 a week. Customers can then use the matching “market dollars” on any healthy food at the market.
We are committed to providing the community with access to fresh, local, healthy food at affordable prices and the vendors at our markets have shown their commitment to this vision as well. Market-goers have noticed that prices at the market are often better than organic produce offered at grocery stores…and the freshness simply can’t be beat. This is true food equity.
The need for food is something that all people share. Fresh, local, healthy food nourishes our bodies, our minds, and our community.
Click here to read more blogs from Lewiston Farmers’ Market.
Please join us for our Community Dinner this Thursday, August 25th at the St. Mary’s Nutrition Center (208 Bates Street, Lewiston, ME) from 7:00-9:00 pm.
Our Youth Gardeners and Youth Interns are hosting an evening of dishes from the various cultures that we all come from. Look forward to a salad bar, squash bread, eggplant parmesan, sambusa, corn chowder, beet brownies, and many many more dishes.
The dinner is free – but the youth gardeners are encouraging everyone that comes to donate money. All money raised will be donated to help with famine relief in Somalia.
Lots to Gardens’ Community Dinner
Thursday, August 25th
7:00-9:00 pm
208 Bates Street, Lewiston, Maine
Please join us,
The Lots to Gardens crew!
P.S.Dinner will be served after sundown so all members of our community can participate.
Laura Look, ArtVan's Outreach Coordinator for the L/A communities
The growing season is well under way, each week the variety of produce ready for harvest increases, come out and see what we have this week.
ArtVan is a mobile arts therapy program. Their mission is to inspire, create and deepen relationships with the individuals and communities they service. Facilitated by an art therapist and professional art staff, the ArtVan Program takes the arts to:
· the streets
· public housing developments
· corrections facilities
· schools
· group homes
· anyone who has the least amount of social services and access to after school and summer activities
They engage these populations in the art making process so they can explore and enrich lives.
L to R: Lewiston Engineering Intern Ben Sullivan, Lots to Gardens Education & Outreach Coordinator Bridgette Bartlett, and Lewiston Engineering Intern Greg LaBonte.
LEWISTON Thanks to a joint effort between the City of Lewiston Public Works Engineering Division and the Lewiston School Department, the local Lots to Garden initiative now has an additional source of water for its garden located by the Lewiston High School (LHS) ball field dugouts in Franklin Pasture.
Lots to Gardens is a youth and community driven organization, sponsored by St. Mary’s Health System, that uses sustainable urban agriculture to create access to fresh food and to nurture both healthy youth and a healthy community. Individuals are taught how to grow their own food, access affordable fresh food, and youth are involved as leaders. Lots to Gardens also helps families and youth develop skills towards lifelong and community-wide change. Since 1999, Lots to Gardens has built 15 gardens and green spaces in 4 diverse Lewiston neighborhoods.
To provide participating gardeners with additional water, Engineering Division summer interns, Ben Sullivan and Greg LaBonte, installed gutters and downspouts on the LHS dugout and located a rain barrel under the downspout. The rain water runoff from the dugout roof fills the barrel providing water for the gardeners. The dugout roof, measuring 36’ by 11,’ provides 250 gallons of runoff in a one-inch rain storm.
Bridgette Bartlett, Education & Outreach Coordinator for Lots to Gardens, states, “The community gardeners will really benefit from all the extra drops of water this rain barrel can collect. St. Mary’s Lots to Gardens is excited about the educational aspect as well as the overall benefits to the community when the City and other agencies can work together to help make a project happen.”
As a money saver, residents are also encouraged to install a rain barrel at their respective homes to collect water for lawns and gardens. In addition, by utilizing such runoff at homes, local rivers, streams, and lakes will be kept cleaner, as stormwater runoff is the biggest threat to water quality. By collecting the water prior to it becoming street/road runoff sweeping up pollutants and discharging them into water without any treatment, the concern is considerably lessened for that area.
Jan Patterson, Lewiston Project Engineer, further praised the rain barrel at the dugouts, stating, “This project will be a living stormwater education project.”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
6.01.11
The St. Mary’s Nutrition Center and the Lewiston Farmers’ Market are excited to announce the creation of a family friendly weekend destination market at a great new location!
The Grand Opening of the Lewiston Farmers’ Market at Bates Mill 5 will be Father’s Day, Sunday, June 19 from 10:30 am – 2:00 pm. The market will be located in the City Parking Lot next to Bates Mill 5 and the new parking garage on Lincoln Street in downtown Lewiston just before crossing the bridge to Auburn.
The market will meet every Sunday from 10:30 am – 2:00 pm until October. Much like the Lewiston Winter Market, there will be lots of great vendors (16 and counting!) selling Maine made and Maine grown products, ready to eat food, easy access parking, live music, and fun things for the whole family to do! Why drive 30 or 40 minutes away when you can shop at a great farmers’ market right in your own neighborhood? In addition, The Lewiston Farmers’ Market will be partnering with local arts and music agencies and individuals to help make each market a rewarding, fun-filled experience.
For the opening market, L/A Arts will be sponsoring a booth where market goers and their children can make creative gifts for Father’s Day. There will also be live music and a place for customers to sit and listen while enjoying some of the delicious market food.
For more information about this and any of our other markets, please contact greatfallsmarket@gmail.com or 513-3848. The Lewiston Farmers’ Market at Bates Mill 5 is sponsored by the St. Mary’s Nutrition Center and the Great Falls Farmers’ and Artisans Market Association. Two additional “stop & shop” markets will be running for the 2011 season in Lewiston; the Lewiston Farmers’ Market at Kennedy Park on Tuesdays from 2:00 pm – 4:30 pm and the Lewiston Farmers’ Market at St. Mary’s on Wednesdays from 11:30 am – 2:00 pm at the corner of Lafayette and Sabattus Streets. All our markets will begin the third full week in June and run through the beginning of October.
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93 Campus Avenue, Lewiston, Maine 04240
Phone: 207-777-8100
